Diabetes Cost of Living

It is humbling to look in the butter compartment of my fridge and see insulin. It’s necessary. And I’m grateful.

The out of pocket cost is upwards of $380 per bottle without insurance, and making sure our family has insurance coverage is our biggest worry in regular rotation. When job situations look dicey, my first concern is insurance. When there’s talk of storms that can potentially knock out power, my first concern is keeping my insulin safe. When I’m traveling, I bring backups of my backups, knowing I couldn’t survive more than a few days without insulin. The time I broke a bottle on my bathroom floor brought me to panic because that tiny bottle is required to ensure my existence.

The cost of living as a person with diabetes? It’s more than just what’s in your wallet. It’s about employment, insurance, access, circumstance, support … an ineffective pancreas is one thing, but making sure you survive past diagnosis depends on so many factors; thinking about it makes me dizzy. But just like with diabetes itself, complacency is not an option. People die without access to insulin … people right next door to YOU.

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7 Comments

The only aspect of Type 1 diabetes that actually puts fear in my heart is knowing that without modern day “conveniences”, like electricity and refrigerators to keep insulin cool and safe, I would not be able to live. Sobering thought that most of the modern world never has to think about. Insulin literally “allows” us to live and love and appear “normal”.

For me, it’s not just the expense in terms of money. It’s also about trying to find ways to get the insulin or test strips that work best for me from our insurance company. In the last year, I’ve learned to search for coupons or discounts through the manufacturers. I can now get the test strips I want from Accu-Check in the amount that I want that a price that is set, and they mail them to me each month. No Rx is needed for those, which seems shockingly refreshing. Our insurance changed their preferred brand to Novolog and the pen feels ancient compared to Humalog, so now I’m having to do research on how to get a discount for the one I prefer. I just wish it didn’t always seem like such a fight to get what I feel makes this easier for me. Your blog is fantastic!

I will be eternally grateful that because I’m old enough Medicare pays for the major portion of my Novolog. Whatever is not covered our excellent insurance plan pays.
Medicare also covers ALL Dexcom supplies as well as the Ascencia Next One glucometer, strips, lancing device and lancets.
I’m thankful for Insulin For All which collects and distributes to those in need, worldwide, insulin and any other items necessary.
Recently a neighbor, T2D, gave me nine vials of insulin and several boxes of needles/syringes. These were supplied through the Veterans Administration.
Get this – suddenly the VA changed to a different insulin injected via pen. It was not my type of insulin; I donated to the organization mentioned previously.

I feel for you Kerri. We now live in Australia and our diabetes costs are covered 100% which is a huge weight off our minds. Any hospital time my daughter spends is free. We receive a carer’s allowance as parents so offset any out of pocket expenses. The Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital is in the top handful in the world. We are very fortunate to have access, care and expenses covered.

I had the worst situation, traveled to MN for work, woke to a 5am lo res alarm ok no biggie. Wait, did i grab insulin from the frig, I meant to…no. 24 hour pharmacy, call to night nurse at my endos and Lyft ride all by 6am. Man I’ll only do that once. Every days a new day with DM.

It is terribly scary. We live on such a thin line. I think of that line when I put that cannula or needle in my skin. Yes thin wires that deliver the product I need to live, but what of the liquid saving fluid? We live on a thin line, increasingly that thin line is unaffordable. Oh and just as an FYI, just because anyone has insurance today that makes it affordable, does not mean we will have affordable care for ever. If those without insurance see it today, it will eventually come to all of us after all, some entity pays, and those entities cannot afford it either.

There are millions of people with serious health conditions. We are all in this together and only WE can make it better. Simplistically I wonder, why not charge a good price for medical necessities that most people can pay and that gives the companies some profit. Millions more people would buy more and more products while now, patients just buy the little they can afford. What pressures can we put on the greedy ceos? Do we have to wait until the last days of the earth and its inhabitants to face the problem? I do believe in protest marches in every city. I do believe in pounding on the company doors. And not stopping! How about a group of protesting insulin-using diabetics showing publicly how they take their shots, infusions as needed even while protesting? And on the other end: the whys and hows of our nation becoming more diabetic. Which habits could we change to stop all diseases? Inflammation, foods grown with poisons, modern stress, money as the main goal., over-population. Wake up people!!!! I, you, we are the problem. Let’s improve our values and our habits.

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NONE of the information on this site is medical advice. None. If you are thinking about making changes in your diabetes care, talk with your doctor. Don’t take advice from people on the Internet as “medical advice.” I am not a doctor. I can’t even drive stick.